Son of a Bricklayer

Where are you from?

I was born in 1978 in a small town in Denmark, i guess there isn’t any need to mention the name since nobody ever heard of it anyway. Even in Denmark nobody knows it.. I did most of my bike-riding and tree-climbing there and since then I have been living all over Denmark. I have also been living 3 years in Iceland and currently I’m living in Copenhagen.

How did you get into beat-making?

I have always liked instrumental music, here amongst the instrumental aspect of hip-hop. So beat-making seemed like the natural choice for me.

I started out with turntables in 1999 and in 2005 I bought my first sampler. Between those years i tried with different software but that never worked out for me. I always encountered technical problems with the computer or the software which drained my energy. So hardware was definitely the right choice for me.

List your discography.

• Idepthz & Son of a Bricklayer – Esoteric Tone Poem – 2010
• Holzgarten – ‘Ne Menge Holz – 2009
• Son of a Bricklayer & Shitao – La Jetée – 2009
• Son of a Bricklayer & Morgue – Empire Guilt – 2008
• Mumledyr – Et fjernt fyrtaarn – 2008
• Son of a Bricklayer – Shades of Grey – 2008

Besides that there is an old beat tape and some other productions..

What is your philosophy for making music?

I don’t have any general philosophy. I always try to get a beat done while the idea is fresh, if it takes too long the result will often be poor.. But I like making the music based on a concept of some kind. On La Jetée it was based on a movie, on Empire Guilt the aim was a certain atmosphere and with Mumledyr it was just mixed seafood..

What is the electronic music scene in Copenhagen like?

Hmm.. I havn’t really found my niche here, but maybe i havn’t been looking hard enough. There are few good danish acts at the moment, but the underground hip hop scene isn’t worth mentioning. There seems to be plenty of good venues but the music played there isn’t down my alley.

There is a lot of street parties here though, some of them spontaneous, but in most cases they’re a part of the electronic festivals here.

What was the first sampler you bought?

My first sampler was the mpc1000, I bought that one in 2005. Since then I have acquired a sp303 and a sp1200..

My favorite is the mpc because of the usability, but the sound of the sp1200 is fantastic. Unfortunately its broken at the moment, the spring on my run/stop button is in two pieces and i can’t find the spare parts. Depressing..

Esoteric Tone Poem…it’s dark and maybe sinister which is why I like it…what was the inspiration behind your newest project?

My inspiration for the project was Idepthz’s beats and soundscapes. We tried to put our focus on the drums and the general atmosphere, which you describe as dark and sinister I guess. Actually not that different from what we do individually.

How did the 7″ collaboration come about?

We connected through myspace a few years ago, i think the first ideas emerged around the time Empire Guilt was released. I can’t remember who proposed the collaboration but we were both keen to start the project. Last summer I visited Marcin (Idepthz) in Poland and we agreed on how to release it and so forth..

In what ways did you collaborate with Idepthz?

We did our parts seperately, but inspired by each others sounds. I started out making a beat inspired by one of his older tracks, sent that one to him and he made a continuation of the beat. We made a few tracks like that and selected our 2 favorites for the 7 inch.

What is a Tone Poem?

A tone poem is an arrangement of sounds which evokes a certain atmosphere or mood. That’s my thoughts behind it anyway, I don’t think it’s defined anywhere.

Tell us a bit about the interesting artwork.

The artwork was made by Pavel Koten, also known as Noizcut, the man behind Ground Floor Records. I sent him the music and he came up with some different sketches. As far as i know he painted it on canvas, took af photo of it and processed it from there. The artwork on my previous releases was also made by him, he seems to have a remarkable ability to match the atmosphere of the music every time.

Are there any movies featuring your sounds?

No, unfortunately not. I would love to do a soundtrack sometime though..

What other projects are on the horizon for you?

At the moment i’m working on another 7 inch with contributions from a few people (not to be mentioned yet..). Hope to have it out sometime in the fall.

After that i will start putting a new live set together and hopefully do a few shows..

Are you still into climbing trees and bike-riding? What do you do when you’re not making beats?

When i’m not making beats i try to learn the skills of fatherhood, I recently became a dad. Besides that I work as a physical therapist.

I enjoy bike-riding on a daily basis, tree-climbing happens too seldom..

Shout outs?

Thanks to Pavel for the amazing artwork, Etienne at Vulgar for helping out with basically everything and thanks to Simon and Tim for helping out with distribution in Berlin and Dublin.

Vulgar Records
Son of a Bricklayer (myspace)
Idepthz (myspace)